Carter's Party

Carter had his belated birthday party on Wednesday. His birthday is at the end of June, but this was the first chance we had to have it. The invitations were sent before I got sick, but I didn't have the heart to cancel it, so Bryan stayed for the first half and Faye came for the second half. I told Carter he could invite several friends for a little while or two friends for the whole day. He chose to invite Parker and Colby for the whole day. Colby arrived three hours late, though, so he's not in these pictures.

We started out by reading the book "Everything I Know About Pirates", then each kid picked a pirate name and we made hats, eye patches, and swords. We set up a pirate treasure hunt with a series of maps leading to new maps. Before they could open each one, they had to do tasks like crowing like a rooster, climbing a tree, sliding down a slide, etc. The treasure was a box full of squirt guns, bubbles, water balloons and little treats. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with the treasure. They had a lot of fun.

Here's everybody in their pirate costumes -- even Merlyn and Berkleigh got in on the action.












Parker, Carter, and Myles are showing their pirate sneers.












Myles found the first clue in the climbing tree and pointed it out as Carter climbed up to get it.






Bryan is helping the boys figure out the next clue. Piper thinks she's helping, too.






Carter climbed onto the chicken coop roof to get one of the maps. He and Myles and Merlyn stood on the roof to crow like roosters.


Here they are looking for the actual treasure, hidden among the trees we cut down a few weeks ago.




















All the kids had fun on their pirate treasure adventure. Later we had Carter's favorite birthday cake, made from ice cream sandwiches, whipped cream, and butterfingers bars. It's the perfect cake for a hot summer day. Carter was glad to finally have a birthday party and spend the day with his friends.